ROAST CHICKEN
Do you find it difficult to roast a moist, tasty chicken? We eat chicken quite often and one roasted chicken makes two meals plus chicken stock and thick soup for the two of us. Over the years I’ve tried so many recipes but none were fantastic, until I found this one. I have modified it to suit our tastes and this is my preferred way to roast a chicken now. It’s not bland and the chicken flavour shines through, rather than the spices I’ve added, which was the problem with other recipes.
To begin, heat the oven to 175° C fan forced (345 ° F) Pat dry a 1.5kg (3½ lb) chicken, after checking the cavity is empty. The drier the skin, the crisper it roasts. Quarter a lemon and push it into the cavity with a generous sprig or two of rosemary. Tie the legs together with kitchen string.
I add some potatoes and carrots and sometimes onions at this point because they taste so good when they’re basted with the chicken juices. Next, melt 40gm butter with 4 diced cloves of garlic. ( I melt the butter in the microwave with the chopped up garlic as it enriches the flavour)
Drizzle some oil in the roasting pan, then season with ground black pepper and salt. Place the chicken in the middle of the pan surrounded by vegetables if you’re adding them. Baste everything with the melted garlic butter, put it in the oven and set a timer for 20 minutes. When the timer goes off, baste again (using pan juices or leftover garlic butter) rotate the pan 90° then set the timer for another 20 minutes. Continue basting and rotating until the chicken has been roasting for about one hour and 40 minutes. Test the temperature of the breast flesh. If it is 75°C (165°F) leave the chicken to rest under a loose foil cover for 10 minutes then carve. Different sized chickens will cook at different rates and ovens can vary in temperature so I rely on the temperature of the breast meat, not touching the bone, to decide if it is cooked.
The pan juices make very good gravy but this time I added them to the carcass to make stock.
I roasted the Brussels sprouts in another pan for 15 minutes, then another 15 minutes after I’d drizzled sweet chili sauce on them. This caramelizes and adds a wonderful flavour to the roasted sprouts. Delicious. Serve with a wedge of lemon.
Glass dishes are my preferred roasting pans as they wash clean easily. Several of them have lids, too, so once the leftovers are cool, I can put the lid on and store them in the fridge until I need them.
It’s winter in Western Australia so I add lemons to almost everything along with making marmalade, lemon zest shortbread and lemon drizzle cake.
Winter also means it’s almost time to prune the roses. These are the last of them, I think, plus a pink lissianthus. Well, they are the last of my roses but I went to visit my Mother on Monday and gathered a vase of roses from her garden!
My Mother’s roses.
Book Review
There’s nothing better than going to bed on a cold night and settling into a good read. The Good Turn is the third book by Irish born but Fremantle residing Dervla McTiernan. I really enjoyed her previous two books, The Ruin and The Scholar. I am really enjoying this one, too. This cleverly crafted detective story focuses on police corruption and the impact of this on the police involved.
McTiernan is well placed to write these stories. She was born in County Cork and her stories are set on Ireland. She practiced there as a lawyer for twelve years before moving to Western Australia with her family. Her stories are fast moving without too much gore but always involve unexpected twists and turns. As usual, I try and get my books from the library. This one was a great read.
White Bean dip
First made this dip when I found a can of cannellini beans in the cupboard and thought I should use them. It is so easy to make and only requires things you probably already have on hand. I really like it as a change from hommus. I also like that it is dairy free, unlike so many dips.
You need 1 can drained and rinsed cannellini beans, about 310gms, (11-12oz) plus 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, ¼ cup of olive oil, ¼ cup of fresh oregano or parsley, salt and black pepper. I didn’t have any fresh oregano so used 1 heaped teaspoon of dried.
Put everything in a jug and coarsely mixed using a stab blender. Taste and add seasoning. I found I needed lots of salt. I think I bought “no added salt” beans.
Scrape into a serving bowl and chill. To serve, drizzle a little olive oil on top and some chopped parsley. Eat with baked pita bread, crackers, crudites or on toast.
Did you know 21st of June is International Yoga Day, intended to raise awareness about including yoga in our daily lives? There are many benefits from practicing yoga. As a keen participant, I’ll be doing my usual YouTube practise on Tuesday 21st, but I’m really looking forward to our sessions beginning again, probably next month.
If you are interested in trying some yoga or just reading about the benefits, Nicola Jane Hobb’s ‘Stay Young With Yoga’ is a great resource. If you’d like to learn more, YouTube has a huge range of videos, from beginners to achieving specific strengths or treating specific problems.
Nicola Jane Hobbs, Stay Young With Yoga, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020
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